Planning to withhold billions in payments if that you does not play ball on trade. Itare waiting for the latest is bce earnings under the outgoing ceo. We will bring you the numbers and analysis, this hour. Ael signs a gas as port export deal with egypt. It is 8 00 a. M. Across the emirates and 4 00 a. M. In london. I am yousef gamal eldin in dubai. China has yet to come back online, but again, asian equities taking their cues from what was a slightly weaker lets run you through the Key Highlights in these markets. Gmm is the key function on your bloomberg. Linesleins being de being led by the japanese nikkei. Profittaking hitting electronics and automakers specifically and weakness coming through here. The philippines and south korea. Were looking at a backdrop here of a slightly stronger u. S. Dollar playing out in the Foreign Exchange column, the. 2 5 index short of higher. A bit of downward pressure on the norwegian krone. 1 at 62. 29 per barrel. Opecore comments from the secretarygeneral, he says there is continued growth he is seeing this year. There is optimism that opec nonopec can keep the shares. Morgan stanley says the u. S. Tariffs will hit china aluminum over steel. 7 . Ore up other key asset classes. Ahead of the key issuances in the united states, gold. Downside pressure, down. 4 . Through. Eakness coming we will expand on that conversation shortly. U. S. 10 year, this is key. We keep crawling towards the 3 mark. Treasury yield curve flattening after the u. S. Holiday coming back online. S p 500 futures currently called slightly lower. Lets check in on the first word world, toaround the haslinda amin. Maysda yousef, theresa team with holding of pounds in brexit payments if the e. U. Does not give the u. K. The trade deal at once. Whilst the move is not the option, it could be necessary in case that you tries to raonic on ge on a trade deal. Mark carney says he is already bracing for the you ks rental crisis wealth u. K. s crisis. He is planning for Bank Failures providing extra liquidity and levels. Higher capital carney says accepting the crisis will happen is the best way to prepare for it. The head of opec says the rebalancing of the oil market is gaining traction. Cartel, russia, and other producers are looking at ways to continue cooperation later this year. He does not want a return to the market volatility and downturn we experience between 2014 and 2016. Deutsche bank is said to be eliminating jobs around the world to keep a lid on expenses. We are told to hundred 50 positions have gone. The number could top 500, trading. With bonuses pushed businesses into the red. The lot jim Prime Minister says he will try to prevent Ecb Governing Council member prince of its rimsovich from returning to his post. He has led the lot fee and centralbank since 2001 but faces suspension from his job as a security measure following his detention. He rejects the allegations. Living innials advanced economies, the boom has turned to bust. According to a report, people in householdy 30s have incomes 4 lower than members of the preceding generation at the same age. The think tank says the financial crisis has held millennials back. Global news, 24 hours a day, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. I am haslinda amin. This is bloomberg. Betty yousef lets cross to some highly anticipated yousef lets cross to some highly anticipated earnings from hsbc. Billion. Pretax of 21 the estimate was for 21. 57 billion. A marginal miss. That is your key number. Bear in mind that 48 of analysts have changed their price target. Looking at the bloomberg realtime insights, i mean, analysts were relatively modestly position on this. 3. 5 was your rating on this. Some of the comments coming through from gulliver, good results. It demonstrates strength and the yeartial for hsbc fiscal that is in line with estimates ahead of the announcement. Contextt more on a lot of these numbers with stephen engle. Later on in the program, we will be speaking with the hsbc finance director. He is going to be speaking to bloomberg at 6 00 a. M. London time. Hsbc with the latest fourthquarter numbers, so what exactly have analysts been telling you . Stephen i mean, these are pretty much in line. You are right about the adjusted pretax number. Just a little bit below forecast, but a fairly good set of numbers for ceo stuart store double or Stuart Gulliver. Takeovering will take as groups your tomorrow. A lot of this news is coming across the bloomberg terminal. This. Ntioned i will also mention that the dividend coming in at . 21 per share is what we were expecting. Your you mentioned that one ratio of 14. 5. That is above the banks own targets of 12 to 14 , the buffer required for the bank to have, and one reason some analysts are optimistic that they will do continue to buy back is because they are well above their own target on tier at 14. 5 percent. Since august of 2016, hsbc has fought back 5. 5 billion worth of shares. There is speculation they could announce a new buy back today, however, nothing coming across the terminal as of yet. Gulliver, as i said, his final day in the office, saying these are good result and mistreating strengthen the potential of hsbc. Keep in mind as well that over the last seven years of his term, and the bulk of his duties has been downsizing the bank from pretty much the World Largest down to number seven. They have exited 18 countries and have gotten out of 100 businesses. They fired 25,000 people and really are becoming more number. They had a number of scandals, allegations of facilitating money laundering. This set of results, as Stewart Gulliver goes out the stuart ,ulliver goes out the door perhaps putting that ignominious chapter behind. At least, hsbc hope so. You forwell hold on to a second as we wait for the additional lines from hsbc. What are we going to hear in terms of potential buyback . Mixed opinions on that front. Exposures to things like steinhoff scandal is the other possible pocket of weakness, isnt it . Stephen right. Well, on the buyback, a number of analysts do expect upwards of 4 billion in possible buybacks in addition to the 5. 5 billion they have already announced since august of 2016. Bloomberg intelligence do not expect a Share Buyback in the nearterm. As far as the provisions, that is something we have to wait for in the Conference Call. I believe the Conference Call is in 3. 5 hours time local, but the steinhoff, the south african retailer that is stricken recently, hsbc, one of several banks, including u. S. Banks and european banks with expected credit losses, will like to see the provisioning might have to be as well as carillion, the failed british number two builder, collapsed with more than 2. 2 billion dollars in debt. What exposure does hsbc have to that . There are a lot of provisions left a come. The top line is saying adjusted billion. 3. 6 expected, 4. 06 billion. They have missed on the Fourth Quarter. We were expecting the Fourth Quarter to be a bit down because of seasonality factors, but the fullyear, just a little bit below the consensus estimates. Great speakingf to you this morning. That was stephen engle, and again, more color coming in. Hsbc saying it had deferred tax assets of 2. 7 billion versus four point 5 billion in 2016. No details on a potential by back, so we will keep that over the coming minutes and hours. Lets cross over to another big story we are following for you, the yield on the u. S. Twoyear. That edge tired this morning, hitting 2. 22 for the first time 6 september 2008. As the treasury purpura to auction out with the bond rout. What is the strategy looking like . It has been short bonds and running that trade from at least going back to August September time last year. He has been a great beneficiary of this massive almost one percentage point move we have seen in the u. S. 10 year, down from those levels back in september, around the twoperson level, up to around 2. 9 , heading for 3 , where we are today. Atyou have been short bonds gillespie over at allison capital, you have been feeling comfortable at the moment and good. Specifically in january, some trading that he did around some active management and some hedges, because the latter part of january, he saw a couple of things happening that prompted him to make the conclusion that we are in for some risk shakeout. He was expecting equities to get hit in the selloff, which of course proved to be relatively prescient given the selloff we had in equities. And his institutional fund, which is continuing to attract money down here in sydney, is up about 6. 9 from december. The retail funds, just a little bit less than that, going since july. Clearly, if you had been on the right side of that short bonds trade like he had, youre feeling pretty good at the moment. Yousef great to have you on the program, adam haigh, live from sydney. Lets bring in gavin harry, managing director at perry global group. As we look at this from the neverending, this conversation around where u. S. Bond yields are headed, which side of the fence are you on, and why . Gavin in the shortterm, i think that once we get to the 3 level for the 10 year, you will see buying come out. I mean, its effectively one percentage point above the s p 500 yield. In the short in from, i think youll see some buying come out. I do agree with the comments in relation to the bond market. Goldman sachs coming out and calling for a 3. 25 on the 10 year by the end of the year. Yousef we put up a very interesting chart, gavin, to show some of the positioning. Bang two sides by speculators. On thes been widening u. S. 10 year yield specifically. What is going to be the key driver of u. S. 10 year Going Forward then . Is it going to be the weight of the uncertainty around u. S. Policy when it comes to trade . Will it be u. S. Deficits, the fed . What are you looking out for . It is underlying Monetary Policy in the u. S. We have in you had coming in as chairman, but in our view, we still think its fairly dovish at this stage. One of the main aspects is the fed has got a dual mandate, and they have been lingering the market in relation to the full employment side of their policy. You have been iraqi talking ckiut been a key bena talking about it. Even yellen has been moving the goalposts, has been moving the goalposts for unemployment. While we are at record levels here, we are looking for inflationary the good pulltion, the demand push, on the inflation side of things. Comeally need to see that through. We are not seeing wage growth at the moment. We think it will be fairly dovish. We agree that while the 3 level may see buying come into the bonds, by the end of the year, they have got it all right. Yousef i was looking through your research, and we have had a lot of people on this program that have become increasingly dollar bears, but you are not necessarily one of them. You dont think that there is a lot more downside from this path onwards . No, just gavin from an historic point of view. If you look at the broad trade weighted index for the u. S. Dollar, which we think the fed keeps an eye on for a longer aspect, the u. S. Dollar as opposed to the bloomberg dollar index, a smaller selective basket against across the u. S. Dollar, we are down at levels we have not seen since the western credit crisis or the oil crisis. Does not see much the fed wants the dollar down at these levels. It is not so much the fed but in relation to how Monetary Policy is moved. , when we see low levels like this for the u. S. Dollar, basis,oad trade weighted we dont see this for a long period of time. Yousef all right, gavin, we will be back with you shortly. Gavin parry is sticking around. Lets get you a bit of a preview of whats coming up. Delivers goodbye. How will hsbc fare . Outside there is a headquarters with the very latest. Again, also, note on protectionism. As we speak, we will break those down for you. Theresa mays brexit backup plan. We will discuss that, next. This is bloomberg. A closewe are keeping eye on the latest statements from hsbc. Additional details coming through. Lets start out with comments on the global economy. Hsbc expects Major Economies to show reasonable growth. Hsbc talking about the protectionism threat and international tensions. They say this is a key risk for them, and also the Share Buyback. Im looking out the analysts have been saying ahead of this announcement. They were estimating 4 billion. Hsbc saying they are going ahead. As and whenk, appropriate. At the moment, no confirmation of any Share Buybacks as it stands. A quick reminder that you can they across the latest figures and Detailed Analysis from our global team with tliv function. I brought this up on my bloomberg as well. Pulling coverage and input from a lot of our reporters around the world. Key quotes here from gulliver past statement. You have got the Key Highlights. There was the pretax adjusted missed estimates and the fiscal year pretax coming in at 17. 2 billion. Also, i reminder that we will be fleshing out this conversation with hsbc finance director the man himself. Stay tuned for that chat. Lets stay with, well, another story that is currently ranked quite high in the global conversation. Theresa may, her team is said to have secret plans to withhold billions of pounds of brexit payments if the you doesnt give the the e. U. Doesnt give the u. K. The trade deal it wants. We are told some in her Administration Believe it could be necessary in case that you the sites to go back in terms of commitments to a future free trade deal. He has won the backing of the euro area finance minister to replacements Vitor Constancio at the next European Central bank vice president. Executivehim on the board after a sixyear absence and comes at a crucial time for the ecb as it prepares to unwind unprecedented monetary stimulus after a decade of controversial decisions. Loss to consider. Gavin parry is still with us. Lets start with the conversation around brexit. This is according to people familiar with the matter, but the fact that they would even contemplate a scenario like that , look like they are preparing for the worst. Is a bit of a mexican standoff. I think it does impact, to a degree, the comments you were making about the curtailing of the qe program from the ecb. That is something that is almost slated. They are telegraphing that to the market quite well. We need to look at the impact of that on the euro. Going back to the u. S. Dollar comment, you are mentioning what we were talking about earlier, what the effect is for the crossroads as well. To ask,nother factor where we get the feeling that you are going to see the fed move. Aspect, but its going to be again off the back. F the ecb movements obviously, moving through some had a positive Monetary Policy stance. Little bitle a weaker as we speak. Looking ahead to a major speak from speech from theresa may. She is planning to set out her goals for how this is going to fall into place. What kind of base case are you betting on, gavin . Gavin it does seem a little is going toritain stand up and start demanding, given the fact that it seems like they need to have consensus in the e. U. Side of things to get the deal done. I guess we have to wait and see exactly what they are going to pull out in relation to the negotiations. A bit of ain is in different situation in relation to the Monetary Policy given the inflationary aspects, but again, with the e. U. As well, places like germany are seeing inflation, given we have had the benefit of a lower euro recently. Looks like their exports. They both are yousef movements. We have got a new movements. Yousef we have got a new face at the European Central bank. It is a powerful post. Could we see a bit of a shift in ecb policy over the next year or two . Adam maybe, gavin maybe. We have got situations like greece at the moment, and obviously spain. So i think that he is probably not going to focus too much on that. The broader aspect, as i mentioned, a place like germany facing the big, inflationary pressure. It is very much a balancing act for some of the other Member States that probably could not handle the tighter monetary situation. Yousef gavin, great having you on the program. The gavin parry, appreciate your time. A preview of whats up next. We will check in on how some of the markets in the gulf have been faring so far this week, and what we can expect going into the later part of today. This is bloomberg. Yousef lets get you up to speed with how some of these equity markets in the region have fared. It was a mixed picture across the board, mostly higher in some of the key benchmarks. The dubai index up. 2 . Volumes relatively in line with the regional gain. Gcc, indexes lower. Saudi arabia was an interesting story, up. 25 . Some of the key sectors performing. Qatar up. 3 . Egypt, also an interesting story, as the rate cut tailwind continues. Yet she has upgraded some of their calls. Saudi arabia, overweight from autral from the msci on potential inclusion. Lets get you a preview of what is going to come on the show. We will talk about widening out the conversation around egypt. Israel signing a gas export deal with egypt changed the relationship between the former regional rivals. This is bloomberg. Show me the olympic winter games like ive never seen before. Xfinity x1, yeah, i always know the scor. Triple corks in 4k. Lookin so sick. Stream live on every screen, every win, every trick. 2000 hours of coverage, get your mind blown. 50 olympic channels, yup, youre in the zone. And if theres something that you want to see, pick up that voice remote and just say show me. Experience nbcuniversals coverage of the olympic winter games like never before with xfinity. Proud partner of team usa. Yousef its 11 30 p. M. In new york, 8 30 in the morning in dubai, and you are looking at a live shot of the finance center in downtown dubai. A bloomberg dollar index that is a little bit stronger. There are clouds building in the background, as you can see. Au. S. Equity futures quite bit mixed, lower on the s p 500. Lets check in on the first word headlines from around the world. Haslinda amin. Hsbc reported adjusted pretax profit for the year that missed the lowest analyst estimates. Net income was 21 billion dollars, point 5 billion lower than forecast. The bank expects reasonable thish in Major Economies year and remains optimistic. The result of the last under outgoing Stuart Gulliver he show hsbcs kurds, strength, and its potential. Theresa mays team is said to have secret plans to withhold billions of pounds in brexit payments if the e. U. Does not give the u. K. The trade deal it wants. Thee the move is not preferred option, we are told some in her Administration Believe it would the necessary a e they try to run renege on the future deal. Mark carney bracing for the next financial crisis. No central bank can eliminate all risk. He says the boe is creating a more secure ensuring higher capital levels. Carney says accepting a crisis will happen is the best way to prepare for it. Deutsche bank is said to be eliminating jobs around the world who keep a lid on expenses. To hundred 50 positions have gone. The number could top 500. Trading slumped 27 last quarter, combined with selfadmitted generous bonuses, pushed the business into the red. The latvian Prime Minister said he will try to prevent Ecb Governing Council member ramsovic from returning to his post after he was caught up in a bribery probe. He faces suspension from his job as a security measure following his suspension. He says he plans to hold a News Conference today. For millennials living in advanced economies, the boom have turned to bust. People in their early 30s have Household Incomes 4 lower than members of the preceding generation at the same age. The think tank says the heldncial crisis has helpe millennials back. Powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries, i am haslinda amin. For the latest, here is sophie. Sophie asian stocks are set to snap a six they advance. When you take a look, led lower by japan and korea. Checking out whats going on in the bond space, tracking moves in treasuries, lower ahead of the week. The philippine peso is a glaring outlier, rising. A rate hike is on the table, albeit remaining data dependent. The aussie adding. 2 , set for a second day higher after spending much of the session in negative territory following the rbas meeting minutes. Taking a look at shares in singapore, lower by. 2 , being led lower by developers after a surprise increase in property taxes and the latest budget, but education and some consumer stocks are rising in singapore as some players are seeing benefits from increased spending. Taking a look whats going on for the is simtech, indian stocks on the rise, gaining. 4 with telcos m. I. T. Leading the advance. Financials looking mixed at the industry reels from a fraud case. The hang seng coming off of the session lows, getting a boost from the likes of tencent and hsbc. Pointed out earlier, we did get the latest results from hsbc, and we do have the stock on the rise, but paring earlier gains. You can see on the board as well, mgm china is rising ahead of its earnings, due out later today. We will get a pulse check before it launched its code thai resorts. Cotai resorts. It is a fifth day lower for the bank after they reported a loan fraud. Llion rishaad a big story. Yousef a big story. They signed a 15 billion agreement to export supplies to egypt. Will supply for a 10 year period. Hailedn Oil Ministers this as good news. We put it up on the bloomberg. If you want to get the additional perspective in btv 684. More color, g a record pop in the is really oil and gas benchmark, composed of 15 members. Lets get more on this with monica, the chief economist at a bank. Each of shouldnt reaction has been fundamentally changed the way you look at egypts economy . Monica far more important for egypts economy is the developments in its own gas market, where we are already seeing increased gas reduction, which is decreasing imports into egypt and in the second half of the year, we are going to see far more exports from its gats begas production, and i will a key driver of economic improvement, improvement in the current accounts, and that will also support the pickup in the economic momentum, which we are seeing from inflation coming down, and a move to lower Interest Rates as well. So we feel that we are seeing a number of positive developments, which should give solid tailwinds to the egyptian economy. Yousef monica, i am looking here at the comments from the ceo of delek drilling. He says this cements egypt as a Regional Energy hub. This will be an engine for both the israeli and egyptian economy. Again, what are some of the risks to this new venture with israel that you would say is something to look out for . As much of a turning point as you say it could be for egypt in economic activity. Monica we are seeing closer ties between egypt and israel, and this has been in the mediumterm, and this is an Important Development for that, so i think, overall, the trend is for closer ties, and again, the economic momentum picks up. We see that outlook as positive. Yousef in terms of the weironment around the world, have got tightening, liquidity, rising bond yields, and again, the Egyptian Government treasury play has been popular with foreign investors, while the abundance of that liquidity would you say egypt is more at risk in the emerging market space in the event of another selloff . In the event of additional withdrawals of that liquidity . Monica well, i think any withdrawals of liquidities should be relatively contained. We are seeing a shift to central , and exiting qe programs this is going to be a change Going Forward, and even though to the easingg cycle, we believe, again, that the measures will be contained, havere looking to portfolio is very much an account. As things stand at the moment, the Interest Rate differential is still very supportive. We have seen a leveling off inflowsof portfolio with the expectation of the cycle, but at the same time, we theypt increasingly government increasingly looking to borrow overseas in euro bonds, and the flows from that will support capital inflows and fx reserves as well, but they will definitely balance it. We think the easing cycle will be relatively gradual in total, including the cut last week. We expect it to be between 300 and 400 basis points. This is compared to 700 basis in 2016. Hikes we feel the differential will be positive. Been a very short time. The egyptian stocks are sectors which include the real estate play, industrials, and banks off the back of the rate cut. Where does that leave your projection for the egyptian pound, trading in that relatively tight range . Monica we expect brought stability. Perhaps some weakening, but nothing that is going to either cause a spike in inflation or Impact Capital inflows. Again, we feel that the external ,osition will remain supportive which will be positive for the egyptian pound for the gas exports as tourism Gains Momentum and you have placed returning from russia that will add an extra boost to the tourism side, which is an important component as well. I mentioned earlier that we expect to see capital inflows as well as the government borrows externally, so we believe all of these factors will be positive. Its also important to note that in the case of egypt, a lot of the portfolio inflows that have been going into e. G. Pt build have been cap separately from the fx reserve accounts, so if you see some outflows on that, that wont really be reflected to a large degree in the countrys reserve position, and that should provide some stability. Key insights. I want to flush that out even more. Monica, you are sticking around. Monica malik. Talk about risky business. Saudi arabias Oil Price Strategy could have an unwanted knock on effect for stocks. This is bloomberg. Yousef this is Bloomberg Markets middle east. Eldin inf gamal dubai. Lets get you a quick check of the latest business flash headlines with a story around algebras investment. It will cost them dearly. His Bridgewater Associates has amassed a 22 billion dollars bet against the Biggest Companies including an italian banks. There is tremendous value in european lenders, which will benefit greatly when the ecb starts normalizing policy. I think revalue is going to ray dalio will lose. We are one of the biggest investors in the italian npl. We see tremendous how in some of these asset classes. Daimler is trying to play down a newspaper report that its own engineers questioned the legality of software used to control its diesel powered plants. The company says documents have been released to harm daimler, and its near 300,000 employees. The firm says it is operating with u. S. Authorities and has been asked to conduct an inquiry. Emirates nbd is preparing to submit a bid. According to people familiar with the matter, they say emirates is evaluating an offer for the bank, but it could take several months to before he decides to sell. That was your Bloomberg Business flash. Lets bring up after saudi arabia and their current approach to oil prices. A little bit of a shift to becoming more hawkish and hardliner. That could prove risky for stocks. The kingdom is targeting higher prices that tempt opec members. O break out compliance levels unsettling the market could reflect badly on the new msci emergingmarket entrance, and potentially scare off investors. Monica malik, the chief economist from abu dhabi commercial bank. Monica, what is your read on change of tone when it comes to a saudi arabia and its oil policy . Monica we have seen this since the beginning of last year. They wanted to support oil prices, and instead of trying to they focus market, on rebalancing the oil market and bring in global inventory levels down to a longterm average. What we have seen is the latest comments coming out of saudi arabia. They are not willing to exit the deal prematurely. They want to make sure that the oil market is rebalanced. There is more debate going around on what this rebalancing means, and this is very much focused on the fact that saudi arabias economy is in the midst of a large transformation plan. We are relatively still at the beginning of it, but you know, for the diversification of the economy, you do need a higher oil price. You need increased investment, fdi coming in as well. This is part of a larger Economic Program that is currently underway. Yousef i mean, that is a key issue. When you have a shift in policy like that were a slight shift of tone ahead of the msci emergingmarket inclusion, what youre signaling is that you are willing to take this fight with u. S. Shale to the next level. That means there could be more volatility. That means there could be a lot of uncertainty around oil prices. That feeds into any anxiety aout deploying capital in very nascent, very large, may be very interesting, saudi stock market. Monica i mean, i think them a cia inclusion will be based on other factors. We have seen a number of moves taken by policymakers that really supports confidence that the inclusion will happen, so i think the development in oil policy would be more secondary or tertiary to that decision. Again, for me, i see it more as a continuation of the policy eight with the policy shift we actually saw coming into 2016, where they went from looking to capture markets and dominate the market and drive prices down to really rebalancing the oil market, albeit, with other key players such as russia. I think, Going Forward, looking forward, the msci inclusion will be very positive, a very positive signal. We see momentum developing with the transformation plan, with a pick up in investments, and for that, we believe the sale of aramco will be very important to give the capital injection to , andy mobilize investments if you see a big mobilization, pick up an investment activity, i think that will be an important trigger for further sti coming into the country. Yousef what is when is the market going to wake up to what some would argue are the harsh realities of supply and demand in this oil market . Inshadt. Wrench. Re in real problem kicks in 2019. They are seeing a serious problem in the market amid shale growth and a global stockpile buildup. Do you share that bearishness or are you sticking with people side of this the bull side of the story . It averaging at 60 a barrel for brent crude, and we believe, going further into 2018, you will see the impact of higher shale production coming in. The u. S. Is already producing above 10 Million Barrels a day. I think also you will have the seasonal impact in the Second Quarter where you have a lot of maintenance in refineries, and you could actually see some buildup in inventory levels. We think the impact will be greater this year as we go through the production increases from north america, but also, we believe that next year, our forecast has a lower price for brent as we have more production coming in. Again, at the moment, there is a price and shale production kicking in, but we think if you look at the count, we see more upside coming in by the middle of the year. Yousef its been great to speak with you this morning. Monochromatic, monica malik. Its sticking with the oil theme, as australias oil surge announces earnings, we speak to the managing director, peter. This is bloomberg. Yousef High Energy Prices have foldn oil a three increase in profits. Aiming to more than double exports from papua new guinea. P or button joins us peter joins us from sydney. Set the stageat for what you can do for the remaining three quarters of this year. Obviously, 2017 results were driven by our record fields,on in our oil a good start. S highcost cost control, obviously driven by a significant increase is in both gas and oil prices. 21 to 24 up on the previous year. That gives us a very strong position financially and operationally, and a great platform to further expand their business, concentrating in papua bringinea, but also to out our new alaskan oil assets into development. Yousef im looking here at some of the details of recent cooperation. You are looking at cooperation with exxon mobil and total. This cooperation how is that coming along and when we going to see some of the gas come to market . We have got their strong relationships built over many years with exxon mobil. Exxon mobil has done and extending an outstanding job bringing that to market in an operational sense. In recent times, sitting with weh total and exxon mobil, have been discussing the concepts for further energy expansion, and we announced today that that content involves the development of two trains on the half of new guinea. The otheron behalf of gas field which will underwrite the volumes to build a third train, totaling all three trains, 8 million tons. Now, back concept will be taken to our respective joint Venture Partners in the next three weeks, and then to the png government, where we anticipate adding down with them over the next few months to finalize the various agreements, gas agreements, fiscal issues, etc. , which can lead to a potential decision at the end of this year. Yousef a lot of your projects are built around very long, long time horizons. The oil markets and the Global Environment is at an inflection point. When do you see oil and gas prices going this year for lng . Peter we have seen very, very Strong Demand for lng an hour region over the last 12 months in our region over the last 12 months. It is now a world commodity, so there is given the volume of lng that is available in the spot market and trading volumes this is a connected market around the world. Competitive very provider of lng into our region and appears to be a very product, so as far as we see, the oversupply and indeed asia pac around the world with capacities that were sanctioned a number of years ago, is now winding into the market. But we also see with demand that that oversupply situation will go the other way in the early part of the next decade. We hope that there will be more lng projects sanctioned in the next few years such that there is a balance supply demand scenario and prices dont go too high. At the end of the year, we do think longterm, lng pricing needs to be balanced with supply and demand, and thats good for us, because we are at the bottom end of the cost curve, and projects that are marginal should not be sanctioned in that space. At the end of the day though, we play the game like everyone else. Oil and gas is very much a volatile market. Yousef i like iu phrase that. We will have to leave it there. Managing director for oil surge, peter botten, joining us live. Lets get a preview of what to keep an eye out for as you go to your trading day in this part of the world. Cement reported fullyear highestthat the the analyst estimates. Companies fullyear operating profit was 282 million saudi riyals. Too, some other Companies Keep an eye out for, the united bank, and before we head out, im looking at some of the Market Action as we speak. Again, you are seeing a mixed picture. Asian equities a little bit under pressure. Profit taking. Thats all we have for this edition of Bloomberg Markets middle east. This is bloomberg. It is 1 00 here in hong kong and here is your first alert news. Hong kong initially fell from the return. The forecastyear, is lower and